Ethics panel elects chairman, as candidate files suit

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. Richard Kamin and the local ethics panel are
ready to begin fighting corruption but one near-member wants the
brakes applied until a judge hears her complaints.

Kamin was selected chairman of the six-member panel at their
initial meeting last Wednesday. The panel includes three
Republicans, one Democrat and two members with no political
affiliations.

The all-Republican Township Council appointed the panelists on
April 10. Council members had named a Budd Lake woman, Colleen
Labow, to the panel but removed he r after learning she is a
Democratic candidate for council.

The ordinance forming the ethics panel had said nothing about
political candidates. But after barring Labow, the council modified
the ordinance, barring politic al candidates from serving on the
panel.

The state ethics law, upon which the local law is patterned,
also is silent on whether political candidates can serve on ethics
panels.

In addition to specifically barring Labow, the council also kept
another candidate, Robert Greenbaum, off the panel. Labow is
running on a Democratic slate to challenge for four council seats
in the June primary while Greenbaum is on a Republican ticket for
the four seats.

No Taint

Township Council President Steven Rattner said political
candidates were barred in an effort to keep the panel "as
politically-free as possible."

"We didn't want anything tainted or for anyone to say a member
has an agenda," Rattner said.

Labow's attorney, Steven Landfield of Morris Plains, filed a
complaint in Superior Court on Monday asking the panel to be
reformed without the prohibition against political candidates
serving on the panel.

In the suit, Landfield says panelists should be chosen based on
their "reputation for integrity and their knowledge of local
government affairs" and not because of their political
activities.

According to suit, the township ordinance requires at least two
public members w ho are neither officials nor public employees,
leaving the possibility to name u p to four elected officials or
township employees. Even if Labow were elected, s he could still be
named to the panel as an elected official, the suit
claims.

"If the Mount Olive Township Council was truly concerned about
candidates for office or local elected officials serving on the
Ethical Standards Committee (ethics panel), it could have provided
that all six members of the board be public m embers, but it did
not do so," the suit claims.

Allegations Of Illegality

The suit also says the council failed to hold a public hearing
when it changed t he criteria to bar political candidates. Council
members also discussed the chan ge in membership without properly
notifying the public, in violation of the stat e's right to know or
"Sunshine Law," the suit says.

According to the suit, other public boards and committees, such
as the Zoning Board of Adjustment, do not prohibit candidates or
office holders from serving.

It says prohibiting candidates from becoming members has a
"chilling effect" on Labow and others who might run for public
office.

"The action of the Mount Olive Township Council, by prohibiting
candidates for public office from becoming members of the Mount
Olive Township Ethical Standard s Board, was intended to
specifically prevent those who might oppose the politic al status
quo from participating in local government," the suit
claims.

Public policy "should not allow incumbent office holders to use
the power of their elected positions to exclude critics or
opponents from participating," the suit claims.

Kamin, meanwhile, said he was anxious to begin serving on the
panel although he hopes it will not have many issues to consider.
He said the group will meet again to continue reviewing the local
ethics law and will then likely meet quarterly unless it is
considering specific complaints.

He said his experience in government should help him in judging
ethical complaints. Kamin, of Flanders, is a former council member,
state Assemblyman, director of the N.J. Division of Motor Vehicles
and currently, assist ant commissioner fo r the state Department of
Transportation (DOT).

Part of his role with the DOT is to review disciplinary actions
and ethics viola tions among the nearly 6,000 department employees.
While at the Motor Vehicles D ivision, he said he also reviewed
allegations of fraud, ethics rules and violati ons of state
laws.

He also served in the Assembly in 1991 when the current state
ethics law gave municipalities the option of forming local panels
or sending complaints to the state Division of Local Government
Services.

Kamin said the ethics panel must take great care not to be used
for political purposes. He said he had personal experience with a
politically-motivated complain t when he served on the council in
the 1980s. Kamin was in the midst of a re-election campaign when he
provided information to the N.J. State Police for an investigation
against three township police officers for unprofessional
conduct.

The officers claimed that Kamin was on a "witchhunt" and was
using the probe f or political reasons. Ultimately, two officers
were dismissed, he said.

Kamin said the ethics panel would likely focus on responding to
public concerns rather than begin its own independent
investigations.

"I'm very impressed with the members of the committee," Kamin
said. "This committee is energized."

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